


Burn it Down

by Ikasury



Series: She-Ra Stuff [3]
Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Catharsis, Catra (She-Ra) Needs a Hug, Catra (She-Ra)-centric, Complicated Relationships, Dealing With Loss, Does this count as a happy ending?, F/F, F/M, Finn Exists, Flashbacks, Future Kittens, Gardening, Long Journey to Find One's Self, Magicat!Catra, Multi, Non-binary character, Post-Canon, Queen!Catra, Shadow Weaver | Light Spinner (She-Ra)'s A+ Parenting, Stand Alone, Therapy of a sort, They Are Not Alone, Trans Character, Years Later, future babies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-28
Updated: 2020-06-28
Packaged: 2021-03-04 00:09:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 16,208
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24954316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ikasury/pseuds/Ikasury
Summary: "How many years had it been?How long had she spent standing at the window, looking out at the glass structure on the lower terrace of BrightMoon’s castle.The one black spot in this bright and cheerful world.The one reminder that still stood of the woman that was the closest thing she had to a mother.Walking out in the moonlight, Catra stood in front of Shadow-Weaver’s garden."orCatra burns down Shadow-Weaver's garden, its cathartic...(Standalone, reading other parts in series not required, but may make it more fun ;P)
Relationships: Adora/Catra (She-Ra), Bow/Glimmer (She-Ra), Kyle/Lonnie/Rogelio (She-Ra), Others Implied or Mentioned
Series: She-Ra Stuff [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1769872
Comments: 22
Kudos: 140





	Burn it Down

**Author's Note:**

> Was watching a compilation on Shadow-Weaver and how much she is STILL the ultimate Queen of sass... was reminded she had a garden in BrightMoon, where in my other stories Catra is living... immediately thought of her burning it the fuck down! It was very cathartic...
> 
> Course, being me, i can't just let that be that simple, oh no, no, my dear friends! I've got to examine WHY she burns it the fuck down, WHY its cathartic, how and when she would do it, what would be the best spark, the most emotional impact...
> 
> So i wrote this... a mix of canon, my own thoughts for post canon, some wish-fulfillment, and literally playing with everything i have at my disposal~
> 
> Enjoy Catra being a Queen! :D

Burn it Down

\-----

How many years had it been?

How long had she spent standing at the window, looking out at the glass structure on the lower terrace of BrightMoon’s castle.

The one black spot in this bright and cheerful world.

The one reminder that still stood of the woman that was the closest thing she had to a mother.

Walking out in the moonlight, Catra stood in front of Shadow-Weaver’s garden.

\-----

“Hey, what the hell is this?” her voice still had that bite to it, but in the euphoria of surviving, getting the girl she loved, and now being _invited_ into BrightMoon to, of all things, _live_ there… well…

Glimmer promised she’d give her the tour. A proper one, where she’d get to see all the important parts, and all of her new… _friend’s_ favorite parts of her childhood home.

It was a strange contrast, the last time Catra had been anywhere **_near_** this castle had been when she was trying to invade it. That first year without Adora, with her former best and _only_ friend having defected, still left a bad taste in her mouth. Whenever possible, everyone tried to avoid thinking about it. Catra genuinely regretted her actions, but she didn’t know how to say ‘sorry’ more than one way… and that ‘I’m sorry’ she gave Adora when she was assured she would die… it covered a lot of things…

Invading BrightMoon was the least of them.

So standing out on an open terrace, Catra was genuinely surprised to find something so… obviously _black_ in the so far bright and sparkly tour. This structure certainly hadn’t been here when she tried to invade, it would have stood out like a sore thumb.

“Oh, um, t-that…” for some reason Glimmer tensed, her hands becoming obvious fists near her chest and her whole body seemed like it was ready to teleport away. She was biting her lip and her sparkly eyes looked tight.

A brunette brow only rose on the feline woman as her ears cocked to the side, tail waving a bit as she stood with her hip cocked. In all honesty, Catra tried to summon some of that old sass and confidence, it weirdly made Glimmer chill out from what she’d noticed, almost like it _let_ the _Queen_ of BrightMoon calm down enough to be her jerkass self back, “What? Is it your dad’s or something?” flicking her black ear, giving a wry look with heterochromatic eyes, Catra looked the thing over, “Didn’t take him as the gardening type?”

“U-um,” sighing, and just overall deflating, Glimmer looked down as her fingers tapped, “Actually… it was… it was Shadow-Weaver’s garden…”

The air around them was tense enough they both could hear as Catra’s jaw cracked.

Moving her sparkly eyes, Glimmer braved looking up at her strange friend. Moms between the two of them was something of a sore spot. She had wanted to hurt Catra really bad, maybe even kill her, because she had inexplicably been responsible for the portal that took her mother from her. The only redeeming thing between them was that while Catra had done that, intent to destroy the world supposedly… she _had_ made a reality where the princess’ mom and dad got to be happy together. Catra’s alternate version of the world had been… nice, in its own way, it made Glimmer wonder if she had ever truly intended any harm.

From her perspective, Catra was just an idiot that was jealous and afraid to lose the one person important to her, and too stupid to think of the consequences of what she did.

No one else was hurt, and according to Adora, her mother, Queen Angela, had willingly sacrificed herself to fix the world. Glimmer was angry for her leaving, not for what she did.

And Catra had emphatically apologized. Not in front of anyone else, even Glimmer doubted the feline woman’s shattered pride could handle that, but she had been sincere.

But where Queen Angela was someone they didn’t speak about to not dredge up those old wounds and honor her memory, Shadow-Weaver was another beast entirely…

Glimmer hated her, hell everyone she _knew_ must have hated that damn woman in some way. She was so obsessed with power and single-minded, she genuinely didn’t see anyone as anything but a means, a pawn, something to manipulate and abuse to get what she wanted…

And Glimmer had fallen for that, doing something arguably _worse_ then what Catra did with the portal.

Just like her father had before them, back when she had been Light-Spinner.

But Glimmer knew, no one had been hurt more by Shadow-Weaver then Catra.

It was why she was hesitant to show her new friend this place, but Catra had spotted it before she could distract her with something else.

She was so still, her fingers fidgeting and her claws were out, the fur on her tail and ears only slightly raised, as if she were trying to repress it without knowing…

“Catra?” without thinking Glimmer reached out for the feline woman’s shoulder, wanting comfort her or at least see if she was still with her.

Instinctively, Catra flipped around with a hiss and snarl, clawing at the Queen and showed such a furious look, Glimmer was honestly shocked. She hadn’t seen such a look on Catra’s face since the war…

But there was something different, something that stood out and told her this wasn’t the same Catra.

There were tears in her eyes.

Pulling her hand away, wiping at the claw marks, Glimmer just gave her distraught friend a gentle smile.

It took a second, but it seemed Catra understood. Her breathing was rapid, but her eyes suddenly widened, looking from Glimmer’s hand to her face, and the sheer level of horror that showed told the Queen how sincere her look was.

“G-Glimmer, I-I,” she reached forward, those tears more obvious now. The moment she saw her claws next to Glimmer’s hand, saw the damage she caused, Catra clinched her teeth and pulled back, looking at the ground, “I-I… I’m sorry… I didn’t… I didn’t mean that…”

Looking at her friend in a gentle way, seeing how much this outburst upset her, Glimmer reached out again, slowly so Catra saw it, and put her hand on the side of the feline woman’s face, drawing her gaze back to her. Sparkly eyes met those heterochromatic ones, “Hey, it’s just a scratch,” with a wider grin she dropped her hand down to Catra’s shoulder and winked at her, “How about some ice cream! The kitchens aren’t far away~”

Blue and yellow eyes just blinked as Catra looked at the Queen of Sparkles confused, “What the hell is ice cream?”

There was some chocked sob as Glimmer dramatically covered her eyes before screaming, “WHAT IS WRONG WITH THE HORDE?!”

Catra raised her hand to make some snappy comment, but they were immediately enveloped in pink sparkles and teleported away.

She only caught a glimpse of the black and glass structure that caused all this before pink sparkles enveloped everything and she felt the need to throw up her guts.

\------

Clinching her half gloved hand in a fist, Catra bared her fangs at the memory.

No one thought to tell her. No one thought it would matter to her.

It shouldn’t have.

And that was the problem.

Blue and yellow eyes glowed in the moonlight, glaring at the structure.

The last reminder of a mother she had every right to hate…

\-----

It started out small.

Catra would be walking through the open halls of BrightMoon, either shadowed by guards, or more pleasurably hanging off Adora’s arm. No one was going to doubt _She-Ra’s_ ability to contain a Horde villain, so it made sense she stuck around the blonde as much as possible.

Meant more eyes off her, and was a fun excuse to curl up on those warm biceps.

But when they passed the terrace, she found her eyes inexplicably drawn to the black structure. It stuck out so much against the bright backdrop of everything else about BrightMoon it was hard to ignore.

At one point Adora stopped.

Catra lowered her ears, thinking she’d been caught staring… _again_.

With a frown, lowering her black ears, her heterochromic eyes trailed the railing, hating herself for how she kept thinking about that damn place, “A-Adora, I’m sorry, we can just-!!”

It wasn’t anything done that stopped Catra in her tracks, it was just what she found when she bothered to look up from her own self-loathing…

Adora, strong, proud, Princess of Power and hero of Etheria… she was pressing her lips together, brows low, and Catra couldn’t tell if her eyes were sad or angry, it was a strange solemn glare.

And there were small tears at the edges of her eyes.

The look stopped Catra in her tracks, feeling the prickling at the edges of her own eyes as she reached out, touching her love’s face and not shocked at all to find she couldn’t move her light blue gaze.

“It looks so…” her voice was soft, hands on the railing becoming fists, “I dunno, out of place? Unkept?”

That drew a snort from her feline love as Catra abandoned trying to change Adora’s view, and instead leaned on the railing on her elbows, finally looking at the place fully, “I mean… yea?” her eyes darted beside her, tail flicking in annoyance behind her, “Shadow…” involuntarily her eyes shifted, “S-she’s gone,” idly Catra watched her hands, flicked at a bit of loose rock on the railing, “No one’s taking care of it…” pulling off one of the cracked bits, Catra took the small rock in hand and stood up. Frowning at her hand for a moment before she drew back and threw it as hard as she could.

Some part of her hoped it hit that damn green house and broke something.

The pebble got lost in the in between but obviously got nowhere close to its target.

Catra told herself she didn’t care.

When she looked over, she saw Adora scratching her cheek, pouting adorably, and looking deep in thought.

When the blonde looked at her, those light blues asking something desperate and crazy. Catra knew she’d never be able to refuse.

“I think… we should take care of it,” her pale hand reached out, gentle but desperate, gripping Catra’s own tan one, “For her.”

Immediately Catra’s face fell, slipping on a flat frown with ease. It was a mask, one she had used most of her life, one she had hoped to have abandoned now that her life was supposed to be happy, be better…

But right now she didn’t know what to feel.

Squeezing Adora’s hand back, Catra nodded, not looking the blonde in the eye as she said the only thing she could with a lower voice, “Okay.”

It was nice, when Adora hugged her, but she felt like screaming.

\-----

“You said I would never amount to anything.”

That mask… so many years she hadn’t needed it, but it slipped on so easily, like an old worn glove.

Like a friend she had abandoned years ago, but they were catching up like nothing had changed.

But so much had.

Catra’s hand in a fist shook at her side.

\-----

So they took care of Shadow-Weaver’s garden.

At least… for a little while they did, together.

Adora proved to be about as good at gardening as she was with basic strategy… as in a big stomping horse in a reliquary, which, honestly, this may as well have been.

Adora’s brash, reckless, charge ahead and punch out your feelings type of attitude was cute, Catra would never say otherwise, but it was not helpful here.

The blonde would over water the plants, drown the poor things that didn’t take much water, like the few cacti, or pour in such a way as to wash away the soil and damage the roots of the more delicate, and deadly, flowers. Catra spent half the time they were in the damn place fixing the damage Adora would do from _just_ watering the plants…

She didn’t want to get into her love’s poor attempts at repotting, trimming, or mistakenly picking the wrong ones…

Adora was not a plant person. It took them three months to figure that out and twice as long for the blonde princess to **_finally_** admit it. Once she stopped _trying_ to help, Catra’s visible anxiety at taking care of this place lessened considerable. Melog could come in and not throw plants around with its spikey red mane finally.

That didn’t mean Catra didn’t enjoy Adora _being_ there. So far they were the only ones that seemed to be bothering with the place, taking care of it, fixing it up, or just… using it as a nice place to get away…

They had put a nice outside chaise lounge near the center, off to the side, so Adora could sit there and read a book or something with Melog curled at her feet while Catra did all the actual work.

There was such a variety of plants in this place, she was honestly surprised _anyone_ could make sense of it, let alone **_allowed_** Shadow-Weaver to have them. Half of them were poisonous, the other half had magical effects, and then there were these randomly placed _daisies_. WHY would Shadow-Weaver have **_Daises!_**

Whatever, Catra took care of them. They were the only ‘cheerful’ plants, clearly only there for aesthetics, unlike the rest.

Idly, as she was taking care of these plants, Catra started cataloguing them. Between her planning for their leave into space to ‘spread magic’ and dealing with some other ex-Horde issues, she didn’t really have time to be looking up what each and every one of these plants were and what they’d do. Chances were they’d be dead by the time they returned anyway…

She just wanted to write them down, have a description, do a little sketch, and _maybe_ when they got back she’d replace them… or something.

It’s not like she started to care about this place, or anything…

\-----

Feeling the heat in her hand, Catra breathed out slowly, taking a moment to calm herself.

Raising her head, opening her sterner blue and yellow eyes, she just looked at the looming black structure.

Standing a bit more confidently, putting her hand on her cocked him, pushing the white jacket hanging off her shoulders a bit, waving her tail.

A very small, very tight smirk pulled at her lips.

“You wouldn’t believe the things I’ve done, the places I’ve been.”

\-----

Their journey in space was… _enlightening_.

That was one way to put it.

At lot happened, both on and off the ship.

They got to see other planets, got to see She-Ra stab her sword into dead ones and bring them back to colorful life. Got to see the universal resistance the Star Siblings created in She-Ra’s name. Got to see strange and beautiful worlds that downright took her breath away.

And she and Adora got closer, reaffirming their relationship in _many_ different ways.

She got to experience life with Bow and Glimmer arguing in tight spaces, only to make out a second later, something so _unbecoming_ of a Queen Catra felt it was her duty to tease them about it.

She immediately regretted this when Glimmer got her back for what she and Adora did, though in her defense, at least they were in their own _room_ for it.

She got to live with and experience the strange relationship that was Hordak being domestic, Wrong Hordak learning to cook, and Entrapta loving them both earnestly, though differently, along with any piece of alien tech they came across.

She and Adora also got the apparently **_infamous_ **‘ _Talk_ ’ from the tech princess. There was **_A LOT_** of information their Horde upbringing left out… a lot of things Shadow-Weaver never bothered to teach them.

There was so much out there, so much to see and experience. The high points of fighting ridiculous odds on strange colorful planets and the low points of being bored drifting through space and arguing over who won the last hand of old maid with people that had become so near and dear to her.

It was a chance, outside everything that happened on Etheria, for Catra to truly grow as her own person. To figure out and try all those things her life hadn’t allowed her before.

A chance, without regret, to figure out what ‘happy’ meant to her…

Returning to Etheria from space, so _Glimmer_ could hug the moonstone as she needed more power, obviously, had brought new, strange and wonderful things as well.

Catra had been surprised to find the black garden still in place, taken care of and thriving beautifully.

When Catra arrived, seeing the place still immaculate and almost like she left it, she was astonished and curious what hell happened. They had been in space nearly a year, why was this place still standing?

“O-oh! Ah, hello!” Turning to the deeper voice, she was somewhat surprised to see King Micah, watering can in hand, waving at her nervously, “I-ah, didn’t realize you would be back so soon!”

A wry look crossed Catra’s face, smirk picking up as she put her hand on her hip, “Blame your daughter,” she threw her thumb over her shoulder, pointing behind her, “Sparkles has a few things she’s gonna want to tell you, and I am **_not_** going to be the one to drop that bomb.”

“Eh-heh, well that makes me nervous,” the older mage chuckled, moving to put down the watering can on the cart by the lounge. He seemed to fidget a moment, back facing Catra, before turning around and approaching her with a strange smile, “I trust its good news at least?”

Blinking, surprised by his soft voice, Catra could only nervously nod, being a bit less cynical for once, “Y-yea, it’s good,” reaching up nervously she tucked some of her hair behind her ear, flicking it. Being out in space she had let it grow out more, Adora seemed to like it for some reason, “U-um…” glancing around she crossed her arms, “T-thank you… for taking care of this place.”

There was a funny look on Micah’s face, something soft but concerned. He reached out, putting his hand on Catra’s arm, squeezing it lightly and smiled wider, noticing she didn’t flinch at his touch, “Well… I couldn’t very well let my old teacher’s…” his voice strained a moment, his hand tightening on her arm before he shook his head, “No, I mean,” his hand relaxed and he smiled at her in that soft way Glimmer did, perhaps it was where she got it, “I couldn’t let her… daughter’s efforts go to waste…” he moved to walk by, patting Catra’s shoulder this time, gripping a bit harder, “I know… how hard it is…”

Black ears drooped and her tail waved listlessly. Catra didn’t know how long she stood there, in the entrance to Shadow-Weaver’s garden after King Micah left, just holding herself.

She recalled the feeling of being out in space, how free, warm and exhilarating it was.

Why did this greenhouse feel so cold…

With a shiver, she rubbed her arms, nodding to no one, “Y-yea…”

\------

Taking a deep breath, Catra raised her hands, claws in tight fists.

There was anger, there was fury, but she had learned control, learned to keep things down to a low simmer.

She had had to, there was too much at stake for her not to…

It was something she promised, and she never broke her promises. They were a precious thing, so small, but held the hope of the future in them.

When she let out that breath, opening her eyes, she could look at this place again… and for a moment she could see _her_.

“You said I was worthless, that no one wanted me…”

A broken smile came to her lips, as she released her hands, letting her fingers raise openly, and fire came to life between them.

“You never cared who I was, what I was capable of.”

\-----

Shortly after coming back from space, after Glimmer and Bow’s big news was revealed to the other princesses and their parents, things started to pick up.

Glimmer and Bow had to stay in BrightMoon, though the Queen easily got frustrated by this while Bow was too much of a hen to let her go anywhere or do anything _dangerous_ in her current condition. Catra enjoyed every minute of teasing Sparkles while she and Adora were out in various parts of Etheria solving problems that apparently She-Ra was called for.

They were helping Hordak and Entrapta clear out Beast Island when they found some strange ruins scattered about the place. Clearing out the corrupted forest and that stupid First Ones tech that caused the ‘depression field’ had revealed some older stuff none of them expected. According to Entrapta’s interpretations, the First Ones had used this place as a dump site because it was ‘dangerous’, they had probably found some Etherians here that wanted nothing to do with them or opposed their tech and obvious push for expansion.

There were bits and pieces of old ruins from all over Etheria, with drawings and writings from various different cultures and species. Old stuff none of them could read, but the pictures…

Ancient bird cultures, strange serpentine people, and most shocking of all for Catra, pictures of feline people.

They looked like _her_.

Several of the depictions showed a large stone, like the power gems the princesses got their powers from, only the cat people seemed to share it. There were several pictures, broken sure, but showing multiple feline people wielding some kind of magic, looking like fireballs…

Adora immediately joked it was just another reason Catra didn’t like water…

Elbowing her lover harshly, Catra determined she wanted to pursue looking into this. They took as much of the ruins as they could, about the other species as well since she felt Rogelio would be interested in the serpentine people, and went to Mystacor. If there was anywhere that would have any idea about weird _magic_ it’d be there, right?

Glimmer’s aunt Castaspella had been intrigued, and _astonished_ , by their find. She had immediately called in any archeologists and specialists in ancient cultures to try and translate these tablets. Entrapta had been excited, wanting to work on some of this to figure out the mystery. Bow’s dads, George and Lance had been called in to see if their archeological expertise could help.

There were so many people involved, so much excitement for some unknown history to Etheria’s heritage, something predating the First Ones and could possibly help unlock the mysteries of the planet’s magic.

Catra just wanted to know about the feline people that used magic, wanted to know if there was a location stated anywhere about the power gem depicted…

But it would take time, something Catra felt she didn’t have.

Pacing out on the open terraces of Mystacor, she couldn’t help but clutch her arms, frustrated. Everything took so long, required so many opinions, so many different meaningless, useless things and all she wanted was a location and…

“Argah!!” in frustration she yelled into the night, wanting to throw or hit something, but Mystacor was all about the aesthetics of wide open spaces with _absolutely NOTHING!!_

“Shhh, hey,” a calming voice came up behind her. Catra knew that voice, knew the woman’s scent, known she’d been there before Adora calmly walked up behind her, wrapping her in her arms, and holding her around the stomach, laying her chin on Catra’s shoulder, “There’s no need to get so upset…”

“It’s taking too long,” her voice was petulant and low, black ears flicking down into Adora’s face as her tail hung limply between them. Catra wanted to fight, to yell, but the way the dumb blonde held her from behind sapped all her energy, cutting through all her defenses, “We’re wasting time…”

“Mmm,” Adora nuzzled the light tan fur on Catra’s shoulder and neck, “We’ve got time, and it’s not like we know where to look…”

“Tch,” the frown pulled so dramatically on Catra’s face Adora could see it from her spot, “We should just drag Hordak back here, ask him…”

“We asked him at Beast Island,” standing a bit straighter, the blonde princess leaned around Catra’s ear, trying to get a look at her face, “He said he didn’t know, and I’m inclined to believe him,” a funny if confused smile picked at her lips, “His time with Entrapta has been good, he’s really trying to clean up all the damage he did coming here.”

“Hrm,” there was a low growl in the feline woman’s throat, her heterochromatic eyes refusing to look at her concerned lover and just staring at the ground, “The only other person that would have known a damn thing is…” her jaw visibly clinched, baring her fangs as Catra glared ahead, “She would have found this so fucking funny, I finally get to learn _something_ about where I might have come from and she just-!!” clinching her hands tight enough to bleed due to her claws, Catra raised her fists above her head, pure anger and frustration eking out of every portion of her body, “ARAGH!!”

There was a flash of light behind her, a low ‘For the Honor of Greyskull’ and suddenly larger hands were on her own, passively healing them and lowering them to nestle around herself.

“Shhh,” She-Ra called, holding her from behind, a bit more awkwardly with how much bigger she was, as she coaxed Catra’s hands to hold around her own stomach, “It’s going to be okay…”

“Is it,” Catra’s voice was low, empty, like she was just exhausted and wanted to give up. It was such a vulnerable state, something that only appeared when it was just the two of them. Her whole body shuddered, her hands gripped tighter around herself as she started to drop.

She-Ra let her, easily flopping down ungracefully with Catra in her lap, only squeaking a moment when it sounded like the tiles below them cracked.

Despite the mood she was in, Catra glanced back at the large woman she was effectively using as a chair now. Brunette brow raised as she glanced down at the cracked floor and back up to the blonde ever-glowing princess of power.

“Eh-hehe, I’ll fix that!” watching as Adora’s normal nervousness played out on She-Ra’s luminous face was always amusing, the princess of power, having so much of it she tended to break things just by touching them, making her fret and awkwardly rub the back of her head.

This must have been why She-Ra had the power to restore things, cause she was too clumsy and powerful to not break them first.

It brought a smile to Catra’s face, the stupid idea, even though she didn’t want to be smiling right now.

With an audible sigh, the feline woman lounged back into her big lover, resting her head comfortably on her chest and stretched out enough to be comfortable. Tail waving lazily, arms tucked around her stomach as she stared up at the idiot she’d fallen in love with.

“I don’t want to finally hear about it, only to have to wait longer,” a frown tugged at her lips, worry traced the lines around her eyes, and her hands unconsciously clinched around her stomach.

“It’ll be fine,” She-Ra smiled down at her, reaching to hold her hands, and in a small flash Adora was there, face next to her own smiling almost right to her lips as she nuzzled Catra’s forehead, “We’ll get there, no matter what, and we’ll see…” even from this distance Catra could see the way the blonde’s lips tightened, knowing a truth, a possibility, even she didn’t want to think about, “We’ll see what’s left, together.”

“Promise?” Catra rolled into Adora’s neck, burying her face, holding the princess’ hand tightly near her stomach. She knew there was going to be nothing left, had already run the scenarios in her head. She had run the Horde for a short time but knew what conquering a territory entailed. They’d strip it down for resources and destroy the rest.

She had, after all, learned from the best.

“I promise,” Adora just leaned into her, kissing her ear as she held her hand tighter.

Adora held her, for the rest of the night and the days to come as they both waited for any news. Catra tried to keep it together, tried to not let the scenarios running around in her head get to her.

But they did, they always eventually broke through, her mental defenses seeming too low at this point. Adora was there, always by her side, to hold her or let her turn away from the world to cry.

It would get to her, at some points, as the more information made its way to her about the people so similar to her. The what ifs and what could have beens…

The thoughts of a family, of a people, everything denied her as she wound up on the doorstep of the Fright Zone in a box…

Abandoned, unwanted, left with a woman that was the worst person in the world with kids…

… But she had raised her, taught her some things, and it always brought her back to Adora.

The family that could have been versus the one she loved.

If Catra thought about it like that, hand unconsciously slipping to the still trim line of her stomach, she knew the obvious choice she would always make.

But still… she’d like to know, now that she could…

The second Entrapta figured out the coordinates, she and Adora were headed there.

This was something she _needed_ to do, _needed_ to know…

Not just for her…

\-----

Extinguishing the magical flames in her hands, Catra lowered one to her stomach, an oddly content look passing over her face.

“You, the Horde, you erased my people, the Magicats. The First Ones may have destroyed that old civilizations, but you destroyed what was rebuilt; my people, our culture, our land, took it over for strip mining resources and scattered the few of us left to the winds.”

Raising her free hand she recreated the fire, forming it into a ball and moving it around her hand in a taunting manner.

“Adora and I found it, the Tiger’s Eye that was buried under so much rock. Broken and shattered, just like how you would have liked something that wouldn’t obey you…”

Looking forward, those heterochromatic eyes glared at the shadows.

“But She-Ra restored it, healed the broken gem, and I connected to it.”

A funny smile crossed her lips, something oddly light and gentle.

“But it wasn’t just me…”

\-----

The first time Catra touched the Tiger’s Eye after She-Ra had restored it, there was an explosion where she made contact and she was thrown across the quarry.

“CATRA!!” immediately She-Ra was moving, across grey stone and rock, in the blink of an eye and using her healing powers to make sure her love was okay.

“Mm-mmfine!” the whole world was spinning, Catra’s ears were ringing and her hand hurt like hell. She laughed up at the blonde above her, “Heh, there’s three of you!”

There was some manner of frustrated growling whine from the large blonde, her unnatural blue eyes glaring at the feline woman, “Damnit Catra! That’s not good! You _can’t_ put yourself in danger like this!”

“Mmfine,” waving one hand, Catra tried to sit up. _Tried_ being the operative word, as the second her head came above her chest she felt dizzy and wanted to throw up, “Uuuugh,” laying back with a thud on the stone, the feline woman put her hands over her eyes, “Why’s it so bright…”

“Because you might have a concussion!” She-Ra stared down at her angry, but mostly worried. Placing her hand on her love’s head she tried her healing powers again, maybe it hadn’t worked right the first time?

After a moment Catra just waved her hand away and took a deep breath, covering her eyes with one hand and holding the other out, clearly wanting her to pull her up.

With a pinched frown, She-Ra held Catra’s hand and pulled her up, letting her stand on her own, seeing if she’d wobble, before letting her go, “Sure you’re okay?”

Shaking out her head, a determined look came over Catra’s face, “Never better.” And she marched back over to the floating red and yellow stripped stone.

She-Ra was worried, but all she could really do was follow her, maybe brace her or catch her should she get thrown again? Neither of them really knew what it took to bond with a power gem like this, all the other princesses that had them seemed to bond to it naturally and for her the power had apparently always been there? Just resting?

But Catra was determined, and there was nothing more stubborn or demanding then Catra when she was determined.

With a rough frown, black ears back and tail partly fuzzed, Catra put her hand back on the red and yellow gem.

“Errgh!” there was raw power under her hand, it burned and felt like it would melt her skin or explode, but keeping her eyes on it, focusing, she could see it, see that wasn’t true. It was just this damn rock being an _ASS_! “Look you _stupid_ rock! Just _accept ME!_ There’s literally _no one_ else!”

Strong arms came around Catra, wrapping her up in a comforting embrace. She-Ra laughed above her, “Yea, just insult it, that’s how you make friends!”

Catra couldn’t help the snort, feeling the warmth from her love move to the painful burn in her fingertips, “Well, it’s worked for me so far,” her yellow eye cast over her shoulder, catching She-Ra’s face with a kinder look, “It’s how I got you.”

The big idiot just smiled, nuzzling the back of her head, and who knows, maybe Adora accidentally transferred some magic to her without realizing it. Maybe it was her feelings of warmth, security and comfort that Adora, even as She-Ra, always brought about. Maybe… maybe it was something else neither of them were fully aware of yet.

Because not long after that the burning feeling on Catra’s hand changed, becoming a soothing warmth that spread throughout her body, culminating just below her stomach. It made every hair on her body stand on end and she couldn’t help the unconscious shiver.

“Bwugh,” removing her hand, Catra stared at it, feeling something strange under her skin. It was like she was seeing her hand for the first time.

Everything tingled and felt… weird.

Then her hand lit on fire…

“BWAAAAAHHHH!!” and she was running around the Quarry screaming, with Adora as She-Ra not doing much better.

\-----

“It took a lot to learn, a lot to understand…”

Catra rolled the ball of fire on her fingertips, over the back of her hand and up her arm before shaking it away to disappear. Her tail came up from behind her, a new small ball of fire on its tip that she took in her other hand, rolling it around again.

The smirk on her lips was wry, haughty even, but the look in her eyes was serene, gentle.

“I managed to learn, not only control, but patience, awareness, all the things you never bothered with me…”

She threw the ball up, letting it burst into warm embers that lit the area around her, casting out the shadows.

“I had a good teacher, and we shared a lot in common…”

\-----

The Tiger’s Eye had the element of fire. It imbued its chosen with the power to produce, manipulate and through **_A LOT_** of practice, control of fire. The ability could be spread out amongst others, but since Catra was the only one bound to it in who knew how long, she had all the force the magical gem was capable of handing out.

It was terrifying.

At some point Catra’s entire body lit on fire and She-Ra, in a panic, threw her into a pond. Catra had yelled and screamed and didn’t know which part of this strange condition upset her more; that her power of **_FIRE!_** was out of control, that she was naked, or that she was _soaking **WET!!**_

By the time She-Ra had calmed down enough to stop worrying, as no matter what fire Catra produce _she_ wasn’t burned, only everything else around her, then she wouldn’t stop laughing. For the first few days Catra had to keep looking at her hands, keep _focusing_ on that part of her body so only they would be on fire and she wouldn’t lose anymore clothes.

Occasionally she could turn it off, but then some other part of her body would light up in flames and she’d get dunked again.

It was an infuriating cycle.

After about three days of the two of them _clearly_ not knowing how to handle this, they went to the only person that probably could help with errant magic…

… And **_NO!_** it had nothing to do with Catra refusing to let any of the other princesses train her or make fun of the fact she couldn’t control her new powers! That _obviously_ had nothing to do with this!

Also like half of them were weak to **_FIRE!_**

Part of her wondered, momentarily, what it would have been like running the Horde with this power and capable of taking out half the Princess Alliance without even trying…

It was an amusing thought, but then her tail would light up on fire and She-Ra would throw her in a pond again, so no… no this was not the time.

They returned to Mystacor.

Castaspella was astonished, and trying not to giggle, as Catra and Adora returned, telling their great tale of the forgotten land of the Magicats.

Sure, there was basically _nothing_ there as the Horde had strip mined the place and basically dug out the only place of value, the temple that housed the Tiger’s Eye, into a goddamn quarry for the strange stone underneath… but _still_ … they had found the pieces to the thing and managed to put it back together.

Catra had managed to connect to it, confirming that _yes!_ She was a Magicat, or at the very least enough of one to connect to the stupid thing.

Now the only problems were her powers and what to do about the power gem and the place…

Of course, this meant splitting their problems. With a hand on her shoulder, a kiss to her cheek, and _totally_ not a smirk, Adora left Catra in the very capable hands of the leader of Mystacor. The hero of Etheria claimed she’d be back soon, for obvious reasons, but that she needed to talk with Glimmer and the other princesses about what to do with the Tiger’s Eye…

.... while Catra learned to stand for two seconds without _setting HERSELF **ON FIRE!!**_

Catra _really_ hated it when Adora was right, but in this instance, she was right.

While Catra had always been more of the strategist, and this forgotten and abandoned land with the Tiger’s Eye was now, technically, hers, she couldn’t very well do anything about it until she got these new powers under control. So that meant she had to leave strategizing what to do to her lover and her friends.

A few years ago, this would have been an impossible thought…

But she _needed_ to work on this, not just for Adora.

Castaspella had smirked, been haughty, and put her through a lot of book work she didn’t care to bother with. Half the books caught fire in her hands anyway.

Catra wasn’t interested in learning the other types of magic Mystacor offered, she just wanted control over this power. There wasn’t a lot of time and she needed it, fast…

One day, about a week after Adora left, Catra was _trying_ to meditate in the warm sunlight on the outside walks of Mystacor, near the edge by the barrier. The likelihood of her accidentally setting something on fire out here was small, so that helped calm her mind.

She could feel the fire on the edges around her, on her shoulders, forearms, and it was just so frustrating because these supposedly fire resistant robes from Mystacor were complete _Bullsh-!!_

“Catra?” a soothing voice called out to her from behind.

The feline woman tried not to squeak, but the flames on her shoulders sort of gave away her surprise.

Castaspella smiled, setting down an elaborate tea tray by her obtuse pupil, before sitting down by the edge of Mystacor herself. She sat elegantly, on her knees and breathed out calmly, just taking in the scenery around them.

Catra bit down on her tongue, whatever malicious thing she wanted to scream out first she threw away instead. Closing her eyes, she tried to get the flames on her body to calm down, it didn’t help as much as she wanted, but they did seem lower on her arms when she opened her eyes again.

“Tea?” that jovial voice picked up next to her, along with a clatter of ceramics.

Flicking a black ear, Catra’s yellow eye gave the mage a curt look. In general, Catra didn’t like mages, for obvious reasons, but she knew she needed to get over this feeling of her skin crawling and allow the woman to help her.

This woman wasn’t Shadow-Weaver… she just had to keep telling herself that.

“Sure,” the growl in her voice said it didn’t work as well as she wanted.

Castaspella just smiled, pouring a cup for both of them and sliding the black ceramic cup towards Catra. She seemed to watch a moment, waiting to see what the feline woman would do before catching the glare sent her way and taking her own cup, moving to watch the clouds around Mystacor and sip her tea as if nothing was wrong.

“Bah!” unfortunately the black haired mage just wound up burning her tongue, “Ack, hothothothot!” she started blowing on the cup fervently, stopping only when an unfamiliar sound caught her attention.

Catra was giving that funny laugh of hers, clearly insulting, but when Castaspella looked she had taken the cup offered her and sipped without any issue. The flames on her shoulders and arms seemed to have dimmed quite a bit.

It made the older woman smile.

They sat like that for a good while, in silence, sipping tea.

When Catra was finished the flames on her shoulders and arms had disappeared, her gaze intently staring at the leftover tea leaves in the bottom of the cup.

Castaspella watched her from the side of her eye, trying to not be obvious with her concern, but…

“So what did you want to tell me?” Catra’s voice was flat, her eyes listless as she reached over and set the cup back on the elaborate tea tray. She knew Castaspella wanted to tell her something, either they had a lesson or she was here to tell her how disappointed she was in her work ethic, neither sounded like a good thing to deal with right now.

A funny smile passed over Castaspella’s lips as she looked in her own tea cup before raising and taking a nice sip, bringing it down and enjoying the taste and feeling a moment, “How did you do on the assignment?”

Blue and yellow eyes rolled, flames licking on the fur on Catra’s shoulders, “The book burned up in my hand the moment I touched it,” she snorted, waving her hand, “Not that I need it, I looked through all the theory books when I was here before.”

A black brow rose, but Castaspella didn’t turn to the young woman, “You read the apprentice books?”

“I was bored,” now crossing her arms, Catra growled, scowling and looking away, her tail flicking behind her, “I even tried a few sigils, I can’t do them, okay! I’m not made to be a mage!”

That black brow rose higher, this time Castaspella couldn’t _help_ but turn towards the woman, “You _tried_ the sigils?”

An indignant snort, “Yea, why wouldn’t I?” she raised her hand, making a gesture like it was the most obvious thing, “Who wouldn’t after reading all that theory crap?”

Black eyes blinked, honestly impressed, “Are you _sure_ you don’t want to be a mage?”

A sour look passed over the feline woman’s face as everything about her deflated, arm’s crossing over her sore chest and her tail wrapping up behind her. Her heterochromatic eyes refused to look at the older woman, “Why would I?” the frown that pulled at her lips spoke volumes to the thoughts running through her mind, “Mages only want more power… I just want to figure out how to control mine…”

Reaching out, not caring for the possible flames that could ignite at any moment, Castaspella clutched the young woman’s hand, squeezing it and drawing her attention. When Catra finally dared to look at her, she couldn’t help but smile, saying the one thing she knew they both needed to hear.

“We’re not like her.”

The way Catra’s eyes widen, Castaspella could only assume she understood the underlying meaning.

Letting go of Catra’s hand, as it was starting to heat up, the black haired woman continued smiling, turning to sit and face her new student more comfortably, “I want every one of my students to explore and expand their knowledge, to pursue the fields that interest them, and help them improve to become better _people_ , not just mages,” her black eyes were kind, but there was something in them that Catra could definitely recognize, “Control in one’s powers is paramount, otherwise you just get consumed by it.”

“D-did…” the words started before Catra could stop them. It was something she had wanted to ask but had been too afraid of. She had only met this woman a few years ago, back before the whole Failsafe thing for the Heart of Etheria. Shadow-Weaver had said some things… things that were familiar to her, only they hadn’t been aimed at Catra, instead apparently at Castaspella. Her ears dropped, and while she wondered if it was right to pry, she couldn’t help but finish the question, “Did you train… under her?”

A blank mask that Catra knew _all too well_ fell over Castaspella’s face and after a moment it cracked, showing a small amount of her obvious fury, before she turned back to look out over the edge of Mystacor, letting the light and clouds calm her.

“She was the worst teacher,” those dignified shoulders slumped and there was an empty laugh that escaped the older woman’s lips, “I suppose I shouldn’t speak ill of the dead, but even as Light Spinner, she was the _worst_.”

Idly, one of Castaspella’s hands drew random things on the stone next to her.

Catra noticed they were a certain symbol, likely a kind of sigil for a spell, but as Castaspella wasn’t applying any magic, she would never see what the sigil did or what it was for. Likely it was just a nervous habit, something left over from dealing with **_her_**.

“Nothing I did was ever right, ‘this part is wrong’ ‘haven’t you been studying’ ‘even a first year can do this’,” Castaspella waved her hand, acting like a mouth spouting off further nonsense as she made a face and rolled her eyes, “No matter what I did or what I tried, it was _always_ wrong, while everything my brother did was all ‘talent’ and ‘perfect’.” There was a very uncouth snort as the leader of Mystacor rolled her eyes like a petulant child.

It honestly made Catra just laugh, “Oh, man, yea,” raising her hand, she wiped her eye, “ ‘What are you doing here, Catra?’ ‘Stop bothering Adora, Catra’ ‘you’re such a nuisance, Catra’ ” she made hand gestures as well, changing her voice to hit the nuance of Shadow-Weaver’s taunts.

Castaspella visibly shook next to her, rubbing her arms, “Oh, that’s just, ugh,” shivering, the black haired woman shook her head, “I thought she was bad as a teacher, she must have been so much worse as your… er…” the words died on her lips, not sure if she could word the relationship as it obviously seemed or not.

“Mother?” Catra finished for her, trying to not let the pain show on her face but knowing she didn’t have the control anymore for it. There were small fires all along her arms and back as she curled in on herself as much as possible.

A soft, concerned look passed over the older woman’s face, obviously wanting to reach out and comfort the younger woman but knowing those flames would hurt, “It gets easier…”

“Does it?” this time, when Catra looked at her, there was no malice, no fear, just an honest hope, wanting to believe what she said.

Castaspella gave a gentle smile, but something about it was sad, “Not really.” With a sigh, she leaned back on her hands and kicked out her feet, hanging over the edge of Mystacor as she gazed up at the sky, “In some ways, yes, but in others…” her eyes darkened, clearly memories, “it’s not as much as it used to be, but when I mess up a spell I can just _hear_ her voice taunting me, my idiot brother laughing lightly nearby trying to encourage me, not knowing how much that hurts…”

For some reason, hearing that, and remembering back when they had been kids, when Adora was always number one and she’d try to encourage her to try harder, saying how she just _knew_ Catra could beat her if she tried harder… it hurt, but it brought a smile to her lips anyway.

“I suppose I can say it gets better, especially if you let go of her, but you never truly forget,” raising her hand, Castaspella made a sigil, it was the symbol she had been nervously writing with her finger, only now with her whole hand and channeling magic through it.

A bright array appeared, shooting out lines at great speed, over and towards the barrier of Mystacor. They suddenly turned into birds, flying away from the barrier, going along its edge and seemed to absorb the light all around them, making everything seem darker for a second as the birds glowed with radiant light.

It was something amazing, for Catra watching.

The birds, after gathering light in the area, seemed to nestle back to each other, making another pattern in the sky and then seemed to explode in various colors and bright light.

Mouth hanging open, Catra was in awe.

Turning to Castaspella, she wanted to ask so many things; why she did that? How’d she learn that spell? What was its purpose? How hard was it?

So many things… that instantly died on her lips the moment she saw the look on the older woman’s face.

Sad, regretful, maybe even a little spite, but there was a small, wry smile, as if to say ‘See? I did it’.

It was the same look Catra felt she had when she finally _beat_ Shadow-Weaver at her own game… all those years ago, and it had been such a hollow victory in a sea of failures and bad choices.

“That’s….” Catra’s voice cracked as the sparkles faded and the normal daylight returned to Mystacor, “That’s one of _her_ spells, isn’t it?”

Snapping out it, Castaspella looked at her with surprise, then a genuine smile, “She was called Light-Spinner for a reason.”

Catra didn’t know what she felt, but suddenly it felt like she couldn’t control her face, scrunching up and baring her fangs as tears started to spread. The flames that had been around her body disappeared, drowned out by her tears as everything felt so empty.

Making a small sigil and placing it on herself, Castaspella pushed the tea tray back and enveloped the poor young woman in her arms, drawing her in and rubbing her back.

Catra’s breathing hitched, unfurling herself and letting herself be pulled over while trying to stem her tears but failing.

“I hate her!” she couldn’t help but say, “I fucking beat her! I did everything better! I took everything from her! I even left and did the right thing! So why…” Catra covered her eyes, not even trying anymore to stop the tears, just wanting to yell and hide, “ _Why_ does it still feel like she won! She’s **_DEAD_** but it still feels like…”

“Because she never lets you win, because she makes you think that you never can…” Castaspella spoke matter-of-factly, rubbing Catra’s back and longer hair.

Catra hiccupped, moving her hand to her mouth and trying to breathe after her outburst. Her heterochromatic eyes glanced at Castaspella for a while, enjoying the feel of the older woman trying to comfort her, but knowing this was unsafe for her.

Pulling away, Catra’s eyes pinched, “I’m… I’m sorry, I don’t know why I just-!!”

When she glanced, expecting some kind of reprimand or scowl, she was surprised to see the mage smiling at her.

Reaching out her hand, Castaspella fiddled with Catra’s bangs, looking from them to her face, then lower, before coming back up to meet the woman’s heterochromatic eyes, “There’s no need to apologize, I think in your condition, this is pretty normal.”

Catra groaned, trying to not bring attention to her hands as they moved to cover her stomach.

Castaspella just kept smiling, “Feeling better?”

Blue and yellow eyes skittered to her a moment before flicking away, color splashing across her cheeks, “… a little.”

“Well,” another flick to her bangs, and Castaspella was chuckling, “You’re not on fire right now, so that’s progress!” she reached over and held Catra’s hands, giving the woman a kind look before standing up, pulling the feline woman up with her.

There was another long groan from Catra as she rolled her eyes, “So… lessons?”

A funny smirk crossed Castaspella’s lips as she leaned down to pick up the tea tray, smirking by the time she looked at Catra, “Well, the future _princess_ of the Tiger’s Eye needs to learn how to deal with her fire powers, now doesn’t she?”

Catra openly growled, pointing at the woman’s back, “Hey! Since I’m the only one alive linked to the thing, wouldn’t that make me the _Queen!_ ”

The smile Castaspella sent over her shoulder was so sly and so wry, it was like she had just won something by having her point made for her.

“Well, as the _Queen_ of Mystacor, I hope you live up to that title, and _my_ peerage!” there was unmistakably a skip to the mage’s steps. It was technically wrong, Mystacor didn’t have royalty, but as she was the ruler of the school of mages, she couldn’t help but indulge in the joke with this particular student.

It honestly stunned Catra and took her longer then she’d like to admit to realize what Castaspella just had her admit and what it proved.

They were _both_ the rejects, the ones Shadow-Weaver had said would never amount to anything…

Yet here they were, long after she was dead, both _Queens_ in their respective rights. Sure, Mystacor was an _actual_ country, and Castaspella ruled the mages…

But Catra had been chosen by the Tiger’s Eye, was the only one now with any rites to the forgotten land of the Magicats, so that made her the defacto leader. Made her the _Queen_ of the lands, even if there were no subjects or defined boarders just yet.

They had both achieved more than Shadow-Weaver ever did…

They both just had to remember it.

With a soft smile, Catra rubbed her stomach, looking down at the small bump there and made another promise, not just to herself, but whoever this was as well.

She’d try to remember this, try to keep hold of it, try…

Try to keep everything together.

Try to control her new powers.

Try… to be _better_.

For herself, for Adora, for them.

With newfound confidence, and respect for her teacher, Catra put everything she had into learning, the _right_ way, to control her new powers.

\-----

“I learned to control the power of the Tiger’s Eye a month before my children were born.”

That wry smile returned as Catra rubbed a line across her now flat stomach.

“I never thought I’d want to be a mother, never thought I’d get the chance, let alone know what it truly was or that I’d live long enough to even try…”

Her eyes fell, and in the glow of the embers floating around her, she could only spot a few shadows lurking behind the glass of the greenhouse.

“But you know what?”

That cocky grin showed fangs.

“I’m actually very good at it. In fact, I want to thank you…”

Her blue and yellow eyes narrowed, glaring at the creeping darkness.

“Thank you, for being the worst example of what a parent should be, so I knew everything _not_ to do with my own children.”

\-----

Labor for Catra had been an… _interesting_ affair.

Between the mages having to cast fire resistance spells on _everyone_ , Adora forced to be She-Ra do deal with the sheer _pain_ of Catra’s grip on her hand, and every other bit of shenaniganry of all their friends freaking out about how long it was taking… yea, things were a bit nuts!

She had only learned to ‘control’, as in _NOT BE ON FIRE!_ always, the power of the Tiger’s Eye about a month prior to labor. Castaspella had been generous in continuing her practice with her new abilities despite her obvious and advancing pregnancy, something _everyone **else**_ thought was dangerous. Both Catra and Castaspella thought it would be _far more **dangerous**_ for Catra to continuously be **_ON FIRE!!_** during labor without _any_ form of control then to not keep trying to master it.

In all honesty, Castaspella had thought going out and linking to a power gem while _pregnant_ had been a stupid idea as is, but who could argue with Catra when she was determined?

Adora had tried, oh she had tried…

But here they were, flaming Magicat giving birth to the children of She-Ra while everything was effectively exploding around them.

Catra didn’t have the control to form proper spells or attacks like the other princesses, but at least she wasn’t setting things on fire just by touching her, so progress…

That didn’t stop fires from erupting on and around her as the pain and strain of labor kept going for two days.

Their friends had to rotate in and out of the healing ward of Mystacor to try and give their support, also a few injuries were had due to Catra being herself and throwing things at people when in pain and angry…

Scorpia was probably the only person with the constitution to swap out with She-Ra when Adora needed a break. Somehow the scorpani princess’ claws stood up to the feline woman’s grip and it wasn’t like she could make them bleed with her own claws.

Scorpia’s presence genuinely helped her through some of it, also her electric powers could be used as a nice muscle relaxant. The healing mages forced her to stay as much as possible once she unwittingly let that power be shown off.

But two days of labor and their first child was born!

It was an adorable little girl with tan skin, lighter than Catra’s but darker than Adora’s, with tuffs of white blonde hair and a little tail and black folded ears on her head.

She was so cute and so tiny, Adora literally melted out of her She-Ra form because she couldn’t concentrate on it anymore.

The feelings between the two new moms when they saw her were boundless joy and that explosive feeling of love like when they first kissed. Adora whined, because she couldn’t form words, looking at Catra with such love, while the feline woman was just exhausted.

Unfortunately, they were not finished.

An hour later, Catra gave birth to another little girl, looking similar to the first. Then another three hours later. Then another after ten minutes. And the _final_ one was about six hours later, so ten hours _after_ their first was born.

Catra wanted to die and had unwittingly set fire to the bedding around her…

Adora thankfully held all their kittens, Scorpia got her out of there and basically earned her spot as Godmother, and the mages of Mystacor with the help of Mermista put the fire out.

Catra was asleep when they got her out of there. She continued to sleep for the most part for the next week, only half-waking up to feed her kittens then rolled over, cuddled up around them and continued sleeping.

No one had any idea what to do or think as this was just _weird_ … even for Catra. For all any of them knew though, this was also probably normal Magicat new-mom behavior.

Catra, even while asleep, seemed to always be _aware_ of what was around her and where her kittens were. Her tail acted as a barrier keeping them near her, and her hair raised, along with fire, if anyone other than Adora or Scorpia came near.

While Bow and Glimmer pouted, neither of them could really fault Scorpia. She would be the least likely to catch on fire thanks to her carapace and wasn’t the type to gloat, so she told them everything about every time she saw the adorable little mostly blonde kittens. It wasn’t much, but the Best Friend’s Squad needed _DETAILS!_

After apparently burning through all her energy reserves, Catra finally rose past a catatonic state and demanded as much food as they could find.

Meaning everyone, namely Adora and Scorpia with help from Bow, got to fetching all manner of food for the lazy cat as she wouldn’t move from her kittens. There were so many comments, especially from Glimmer as she couldn’t stop laughing with her and Bow’s son, Lyre, on her hip about how much Catra was just leaning into the lazy cat role.

Catra argued she was a Queen, she had every right to have others fetch her things. Glimmer grumbled about not thinking to use that as an excuse after she had Lyre.

But with Catra awake, she and Adora could finally figure out names for their five daughters…

The first they named Finn, as that had been the top name they were thinking of… and had expected to only have one kid.

The second they named Amara, another name on their list and Catra was fully aware Adora _kinda_ wanted to pay some tribute to Mara.

The third they called Izzy… because it popped into Catra’s head when they were thinking about her.

The fourth they called Cassia, it seemed to work well with Izzy, and as the two were born so close together and shared similar brown spotting, Catra and Adora couldn’t really argue. If they found something better, then sure they’d change them.

And the last one, that one Catra still grumbled about the six _hour_ delay after the others rounding to a full _TEN HOURS_ after Finn was born, was the only one that shared her darker brown coating, and even seemed to have darker tanned skin compared to her sisters. As everything about her seemed _darker_ , Adora thought of Sable, like the black, even though she wasn’t really black. Catra was exhausted at this point and it seemed to work, so she agreed with little fight.

Adora just smiled, looking at each of them, thinking they were so cute.

They were tiny, smaller than any of the other babies that had been born amongst the former Alliance so far. Ranging from bright white blonde with Amara, more yellow with Finn, a spotty mix between the two with Izzy and Cassia, and finally an obvious brown with Sable. Their tiny little catlike ears were all folded and stuck to their heads, and their little tails only had baby fuzz on them for now.

Adora just wanted to hug and squeeze each and every one of them, but was scared she might break them. She had always been strong, physically, She-Ra made it more obvious, but she knew she could maintain it and not harm their daughters.

Catra though seemed to be working on pure instinct, keeping them near and not letting anyone close that could be a potential threat, even if they knew they weren’t.

It wasn’t until she realized that Entrapta, and Wrong Hordak for some reason, had been keeping notes on her and her ‘progress’ that Catra finally seemed to snap back to her normal self for a bit, some months later after the kittens were born.

Entrapta had apparently been curious, wanting to document Catra’s behavior, as Magicats seemed to be a forgotten species of Etheria so studying them alive was rare and could be very valuable in the future. No one would _really_ faulted the tech weirdo, she was technically right. In the time since finding the Tiger’s Eye and all the information about them, none of Adora or the other princesses had managed to find another one. Catra seemed to be all that was left of them.

Well, not anymore, but still…

It was a strange wakeup call for Catra.

She, and now her daughters, were the last of the Magicats. They were the last ones that could use the restored Tiger’s Eye. The last ones that would be able to hold the elemental power of flames…

There was so much riding on her, that she needed to figure out, so she could teach her daughters that for a bit Catra kind of… freaked out.

She went from being on low-power sleeping all the time mode when the kittens were born, to suddenly ramped up and running all over the place, namely Mystacor, to try and master her magic and figure it out while _also_ feeding and tending to the five little babies that couldn’t even walk yet.

Watching her wife panic and run around like she was crazy made Adora panic herself and the two were frankly, a mess.

Of all the people to finally slap some sense into the both of them, it was _Kyle_ that managed it.

After basically having Rogelio grab Adora, Lonnie grab Catra, and _politely_ asking Queen Glimmer to watch their kids for the evening, Kyle sat down with the two of them.

“Stop it!” the lanky blonde man literally slapped them both.

“Aw!” Adora whined, unable to rub her cheek as Rogelio held her in the chair. The scaly man gave a shrug and hissed his apologies when she looked his way.

Catra on the other hand growled, “The fuck, _Kyle!_ ” she physically tried to move, to get up and grab the lanky man and either set his shirt on fire or punch him, she hadn’t quite decided yet. Lonnie though had her arms wrapped around the feline woman and _made sure_ she wasn’t getting out of that chair.

“Sure we don’t need rope?” the dark skinned woman growled as Catra struggled more.

“No, this should be quick,” Kyle held up his hand, looking between the two seated and his partners, “I just wanted to say something that I think we all need to hear.”

Rogelio and Lonnie looked at the lanky blonde with understanding, lessening their grip just enough so the others noticed, not that they were fully letting them go.

Adora had a curious and confused look on her face, while Catra was still growling, heterochromatic eyes focused on Kyle as her tail waved back and forth.

“I…” Kyle started, coughing into his hand, “I-I don’t know how you guys see it, but I always saw us as one big family.” With a bright smile, the lanky young man opened his arms, “Sure, we were all orphans, but we always had each other, even those we lost…”

They all dropped their heads, remembering for the first time in a long time the cadets that ‘disappeared’ during their training.

“But we survived,” Kyle held his hand up, forming a shaky fist as he looked at it, “Shadow-Weaver… she may have been the only thing any of us knew as a mother, but you know what that makes all of us?” His dark brown eyes shinned, looking at each and every one of them, “That makes us siblings, family!”

“Ew,” Catra grunted, sitting back a bit more at ease in her chair, “That means I had sex with my sister… _AND_ had kids with her!”

Above her, Lonnie snorted, loosing one hand while hanging the other over Catra’s shoulder, “I mean, I had sex with _our_ brothers, **_and_** had kids with both of them too, so….”

The two started snickering for some reason.

“Really?” Adora snapped a short glare at the two, “ _That’s_ the part you two focus on?!” above her, Rogelio had his head in his clawed hand, covering his eyes and shaking his head.

There was a nervous laugh in front of them. Kyle was bashfully scratching the back of his head but still smiling, “Not exactly what I was meaning, and well, it’s not like we’re all _really_ siblings, so…”

“Hey,” Catra’s voice cut between them, looking at the lanky blonde seriously, “We _are_ , might not have the same birth parents, but we _are_ real siblings…” her eyes trailed to the other blonde, reaching out her hand, “Even if it’s... changed a bit.”

“Aw,” Adora smiled, reaching for Catra’s hand and squeezing it. Then she openly laughed when Rogelio hugged her from above, tapping his arm with her other hand, hugging him back as well.

Kyle smiled, dropping his hand and holding them in front of them, “And well, I just wanted to tell you two, s-since we don’t see you as much,” he fiddled with his hands, looking down, “Well, with Jodio and Shay, we had a lot to learn, a lot we’re still learning,” a fire burned in his dark brown eyes as he looked at his sisters seriously, “But something I wanted to tell you both, something I think Lonnie, Rogelio and I needed to hear, is that…” His jaw clinched, and for a moment the others were genuinely surprised by the emotion running across Kyle’s face.

He looked at them sternly, brave and serious but also with that compassion and care he always had for the rest of them.

“We’re not Shadow-Weaver,” his hands clinched at his sides and he looked each and every one of his siblings in the eyes, taking note of but not mentioning as tears started to form in varying degrees, “We aren’t like her, we’re not going to make our kids fight one another, train in grueling conditions, compete with one another, and single out certain ones for punishment and praise…”

He saw the way Catra’s hand shook, gripping Adora’s tighter.

“We’re not going to have them fight for food or their place to sleep, force them to pick between helping each other and whether or not they get to eat or sleep the next day…”

Lonnie looked away, tears she refused to let fall as she grit her teeth. The hand she had on Catra tightening.

“We’re not going to pick sides, make them go through grueling physical conditions and only let those that aren’t dead or passed out move on, like they’re the only ones that have proven their worth to live…”

Rogelio’s shoulders sagged, laying his head down on Adora’s, holding her tighter, appreciating that she did just the same, as his tail reached out and held Lonnie’s leg.

“W-we’re not…” Kyle’s voice cracked, tears coming down his face now as his fist shook, “We’re not going to put them through horrible manipulation and torment them, raising them to fight in a war that they have no idea whose right or who’s wrong, just that they’re going to live long enough to die in it…”

When he put his hands up, covering the tears he couldn’t help falling anymore, he was happy to hear the chairs thrown to the side, the rushed footsteps and a moment later the feel of all his siblings hugging him.

Scales, fur and muscles, they were all different types of Etherians, but they had all been raised in the same messed up way. Shadow-Weaver had raised them to be soldiers, some more than others, and others got it worse than the rest, but they all suffered for it.

They all lost who they could have been, drowned out and poisoned by that witch and the Horde’s machinations.

Kyle himself didn’t think he could ever forgive Hordak for letting how they were raised happen, but he wouldn’t think of having anything else. He loved his family, his siblings that meant the world to him, and Rogelio and Lonnie that became the loves of his life.

He knew Catra and Adora felt the same, would never trade their horrible upbringing for a life where they may have never met.

It was why, after seeing them going to such extremes for their kids, he knew what they were feeling.

“We’re not like her, we’ll never be, not to our kids,” he hugged Catra and Adora both, tightly as he buried his head between them.

They hugged him back, clearly needing to hear that, as they held him and each other tightly, Catra’s tail around Kyle, while Adora kissed the top of his head.

Lonnie and Rogelio joined on the outside, they knew this, they had had this talk with Kyle when they’d had their kids. Lonnie had been scared about when to start training them, if they _should_ , while Rogelio was terrified of hurting them since they were so small…

They had needed this, all of them.

“We just gotta try harder, be better, I know we can do it!” Kyle smiled, openly and joyously as he nuzzled his sisters and enjoyed the warmth of his family, “We just… gotta help each other, remind each other from time to time!”

“You got it, lil’ bro,” Catra smirked, flicking the lanky blonde with her ear.

There was a little groan from Kyle, “Aren’t I older then you?”

They all paused to think about that.

Lonnie was the one to finally shrug, “Ya know, I don’t think any of us know how old we really are…”

“Well, Kyle _is_ still the smallest,” Adora, of all people, chuckled, hugging her _little_ brother. Catra seemed to look pleased, until those light blue eyes on the princess of power turned to the feline woman, “Though, not by much…”

“Hey!” Catra glared at her love, “I’ve got fire remember?”

There was a snort as they started to pull apart but Lonnie still had one arm over Catra’s shoulder, “Yea, and I’ve got guns, Kyle’s got explosives, and you haven’t even _seen_ the number of blades Rogelio’s got!” her light brown eyes were snide, just _waiting_ for Catra to comment.

The feline woman groaned, rolling her eyes, “Ugh, fine…” blue and yellow eyes glanced at Lonnie flatly for a second before she smirked, reaching around under the muscular woman’s arm, “So you guys want a job?”

The dark skinned woman gave her this specific look, wry and knowing, “You paying?”

“Eeeeeh,” Catra looked to the side, scratching her head, “Does being a Queen or family get me any kind of discount?”

“Cheapskate,” Lonnie let her go, shoving her with her elbow, but it was all in jest. She was, after all, smiling sincerely at Catra.

And Catra, she was smiling as well. These guys… they were her family, they and Adora knew what it was like, what they’d all gone through. Sure, it hadn’t been all the same, Shadow-Weaver never distributed her ire evenly, but they still understood.

She was afraid for her and Adora’s kittens, afraid what it’d be like for them, who _they_ would be towards them…

“Hey, Kyle…” as the others started joking together, Catra approached their designated ‘little’ brother with probably the softest voice any of them had ever heard from her.

He looked to her with a smile, “Yea, Catra?”

At her sides, Catra’s hands clinched and she had to press her lips together before figuring out what to say exactly, “I…” her voice cracked and her ears went back, sniffling, “I don’t want to hurt them…”

He smiled at her, something so heartfelt and genuine, she knew that back in the Horde she would have punched him for it. As he reached out and squeezed her shoulder, she was so glad she wasn’t there anymore, “You won’t, none of us will, so long as we just try to do our best and help them.”

It was helpful, Catra wiped away the tears from her eyes. She wasn’t going to hug him again, she’d done that enough and her pride wouldn’t let her, but she smiled. She smiled at her little brother and appreciated when he did it back.

They were family, they would be better.

\-----

“It took me years to fully accept Kyle’s words, but he was right…”

A content smile passed over Catra’s lips as she looked back at the greenhouse flatly.

“So long as I focused on being better, trying harder for them, for my family, everything seemed to get better.”

She took a step forward, then another, reaching her hand out and placing it on the dark glass.

“It’s been nearly ten years since then and you’ve watched them grow,” a pained chuckle ripped from Catra’s throat as she ran her hand along the smooth glass.

“When we came back from Mystacor, I took care of this place again, alongside Micah, and even Glimmer some times,” she looked up, seeing the place in its entirety, “I felt I had to, that it was something I couldn’t leave to someone else…”

It was still a black spot full of shadows against a backdrop of a world that had grown brighter and better with each passing day.

But even this dark little corner had started to change. The daisies taking up more space. Snapdragons and fire lilies growing in the corners. Slowly, the entire scape of poisonous or magical plants started to dwindle, and most of what was left were the things she had decided to keep because they were beautiful or cheerful.

“I put so much time into this, keeping it together, nice. I worked hard to live up to some invisible standard no one else understood. And now…” she laughed, “Now the castle in Tiger’s Quarry is complete, and I can’t bring this with me.”

But even then, times change…

“I have to let you go.”

Her voice was soft, letting her hand drop from the glass, turning around and walking away from the darkness.

“Finn has decided they don’t want to be called a girl or boy; that they want to forge their own path and identity away from their parents. Amara is determined to become the next She-Ra. Izzy and Cassia haven’t figured out what they want to do beyond playing games with Lyre, Jodio and Shay. And Shadow…”

Catra stopped, a both pained yet happy look crossed her face, as she raised one hand to wipe away an errant tear.

“I’m so proud of him, he decided he wanted to be a boy, as he looked up to Bow so much. Wants to try mixing magic with tech like Entrapta, and came up with that name on his own…”

She turned, looking at the black spot in her life, seeing a red reflection in the black glass thanks to her embers dancing in the air around her.

She couldn’t decide if that was just herself, with her red shirt under the white jacket Adora gave her, or if her mind was playing tricks on her and she was seeing her mother again…

“He never heard of you, none of them did. Adora and I refused to give you a name, only something referred to in memory by the most basic of things.”

She raised her hand, a fireball forming that started to get increasingly bigger. Without moving a muscle the embers around her dashed forward, culminating and expanding, forming other fireballs all around the greenhouse.

“You said I was worthless, that I would amount to nothing, that no one would love me…”

Her teeth clinched, fangs showing.

“But I always had someone. I had one person who loved me, no matter what I did, and because of you, because what you did to me, what you _made_ me, I almost lost her…”

The fires grew bigger, blazing suns surrounding a black hole.

“I have lived a life with her. I _found_ my own power. I traveled from one end of the galaxy to the other. I am now one of the strongest _Queens_ Etheria has ever seen, with my own throne and subjects waiting for me…”

Tears formed and fell, burned away by the scorching heat of the flames in front of her.

“I have a loving wife and five beautiful children I will love and cherish for the rest of my life…”

Her free hand clinched, and for a moment she had to look down as her shoulders shook.

“And… it’s all thanks to you…”

Raising her hand, Catra could not help the tears, now too much even the flames of her power couldn’t burn them away. She openly wept into her hand, holding her attack for a moment more.

“You… were the worst... made me who I am, represent the worst parts of me, but even still, I couldn’t let you go…”

Raising her eyes, despite her massive fireballs waiting and ready to attack… she could see it. The visage of Shadow-Weaver, her mask abandoned and that smug smile in her last moments.

“You were right, it was only the beginning for me… and you gave me that, saved my life. It was the only good thing you ever did for me. Thank you.”

Her black ears flicked and she could hear on the wind Shadow-Weaver’s last taunting words.

_“You’re welcome.”_

Clinching her fist that formed the fireball, all of them raced towards the greenhouse and blew it up in a massive upward explosion.

“Goodbye… Mother.”

\-----

When the explosion rattled all of BrightMoon, everyone went on alert.

Sentry towers Bow had designed with the help of Entrapta came to life, a magic barrier was erected and guards started flocking from every which way.

The Queen teleported onto the terrace with her husband in battle ready gear, Bow sporting his weapon with three arrows drawn and looking for a target while Glimmer had her staff out and hands glowing.

“FOR THE HONOR OF GREYSKULL!!” could be heard shouted in a frantic panic somewhere off in the tower and an unmistakable ethereal blonde came rushing out, sword in hand and three small children hanging off her coattails.

Without even thinking She-Ra dropped the thirty something feet from the upper walk to the terrace, catching two of her children in one arm and feeling the other land on her shoulders, then came rushing towards the bonfire, stopping only because she saw the very confused looks of Bow and Glimmer.

“Uh, what’s going on?” the ethereal blonde looked from her longtime friends, to the bonfire, finally noticing her wife was just standing there in front of it.

“Eh? We don’t know either?!” Glimmer threw her hands up, confused and shrugging, “There was a big explosion so Bow and I grabbed what we could and I teleported around until I found the attack, but…” her sparkly eyes traveled to the side, to Catra’s stoic form in front of the bonfire, “Well…”

Bow scratched the back of his head, “Guess I’ll go cancel the alarm?” he kissed his wife and turned around heading back.

She-Ra stood there, looking very confused, but her gaze hadn’t left her wife, “Glimmer, do you mind?” she handed over two of the three kittens that had managed to snag onto her. Amara and Finn were pretty quick, like Catra, and despite her quick change had grabbed onto her before she even noticed. Shadow was wrapped around her head and she had honestly no idea when he’d latched on, but she couldn’t quite get him off.

“But mooooom!” Finn whined, both they and Amara being held by Glimmer now, pouting up a storm with their blue eyes.

She-Ra smirked at the two for a moment, ruffling their heads and forcing their ears down, before transforming back to her normal form. Shadow fell off now that his hold was gone, and Adora gave her son a wry look, basically telling him to just stay there.

Glimmer had a flat look on her face as she held the rambunctious children of She-Ra and _Queen_ Catra, “Go on, I’ll get these three to bed.”

Finn opened their mouth to make some obvious verbal complaint, but Glimmer was already teleporting the two away.

Adora knew she’d come back for Shadow in a second, so she gave her son one final look, “Stay here,” before turning towards her wife.

Catra was just standing there, watching the blaze. She hadn’t moved an inch since they had appeared, didn’t even acknowledge them, but Adora knew she knew they had come. Her ears had flicked towards them when everyone spoke.

Slowly, Adora moved to slip up next to her feline love, easily slipping her hand over one of Catra’s, coaxing the fist to let go, fall and put her fingers between hers.

As soon as the contact was made, a choking sob released from Catra’s throat and her other hand came up to try and cover her face.

“Hey, it’s okay,” softly, the blonde coaxed her wife closer to her, letting go of her hand only to let Catra collapse into her side, now moving to hold her around the shoulders, “Shh, everything will be fine…”

“She’s gone,” Catra released in a hoarse voice.

Adora just nodded, kissing her wife’s temple as she pulled her closer, “Yea, she’s gone…”

With a whining groan, Catra buried her face in her wife’s shoulder, mumbling, “I want a garden in our new home…”

The smile that formed at the feline woman’s childish behavior was bright and light as Adora just shook her head, resting it on Catra’s, “We can have a garden in our new home.”

Clawed hands desperately clung to the blonde’s white dress, as the only response she had was a firm nod.

Giving a wry look, once again Adora shook her head, holding Catra tightly, rocking her back and forth, “Though, please, nothing poisonous… Finn tried to eat something out of there the other day…”

There was a strained laugh, but that fuzzy brunette head nodded, “Okay.”

Adora just smiled, holding her precious wife. It had been years since she’d seen Catra act like this, wanting to run and hide from something she’d done, usually right into her own arms.

But this…

Raising her light blue eyes, Adora looked at the bonfire. The blaze was huge and she could feel the magic in those flames. Catra wanted it to keep burning, wanted every part of this place to be erased.

It was a shame, in Adora’s opinion, this garden had become something so much more beautiful under Catra’s care for the past decade then it was originally. It took patience, planning, and diligence, something she doubted the woman that started it would ever attribute to Catra.

But she knew what this place meant to Catra, what it represented.

It was the last reminder of Shadow-Weaver. The last piece of a past neither of them had been ready to let go of…

Adora may have come to terms with their… _mother’s_ death long ago, come to see this place as an extension of her wife’s work and not of the woman that started it, but clearly Catra hadn’t. She still carried her around…

Hopefully, this would be it.

They had a new life starting for them tomorrow. Tiger’s Quarry was finally finished, the Tiger’s Eye would be protected and they would be nearby to keep it safe. Their children could run around and explore the land of their mother’s people to their heart’s content, and maybe she and Catra could have some time to themselves without friends and warbuddies bumping into them around every corner.

BrightMoon was lovely, Adora would never say it wasn’t, and she loved Glimmer, Bow, and everyone else that lived here… but it was well past time that She-Ra and her family had a place all their own.

Maybe it was a good thing to let this last piece go.

Looking at the bonfire, Adora couldn’t help the feeling of catharsis as the words slipped out of her heart, “Goodbye, Shadow-Weaver…”

Catra held her tight, twisting her head to look at the flames, “Just a few more minutes and I’ll put it out…”

A funny smile passed over the blonde’s lips as she squeezed her wife tight, “A few more minutes than we go back to bed,” she kissed between Catra’s ears and was pleased to hear that soft rumble of her purring start up, “We’ve got a big day tomorrow, _your majesty_.”

That was enough of a tease to snap Catra out of her mood, reflexively shoving her wife and wiping off her face.

Adora could only chuckle, rather seeing that scowling pout on her wife’s face then the tearstained broken one from a minute ago. Catra was strong, she always had been in Adora’s opinion, she had put up with and hid so much when they were younger, and she was an astounding role model for their children.

She was a kind, caring mother that let her kids be independent, adventurous, and maybe a bit mischievous. She indulged their whims, let them figure out who they were and encouraged them to be whatever they wanted to be. Be it Finn going on and on like Seahawk about adventures, Amara practicing to be the next She-Ra or Izzy and Cassia wanting to blow stuff up with their mini fireballs, reminding Adora way too much of Catra when she was younger for her liking, but well, what was she to do.

Glancing back, Adora saw that Shadow was still there, watching them in awe.

Catra even encouraged them to express themselves and be who they wanted, whether it was adamantly being a girl like Amara, non-binary like Finn, or wanting to transition like Shadow. She had smiled and been the first person to call their now son by his chosen name and hadn’t even flinched at how close it was to the one person that hurt her the most.

Adora had been worried, more about the name than anything else, because Shadow had no idea who that name reminded them of, what it brought up for his mothers.

He was just a kid, with a better grasp of who he wanted to be then his siblings, and probably smarter than Catra was at that age, wanting to be the first real magitech on Etheria.

He had no link to Shadow-Weaver, and Adora was amazed every day as Catra helped him and the rest of their children with whatever they wanted to do.

This must have been so strange for Shadow, his normally so in control and _cool_ mother blowing up something she had spent so much time on, then crying about it.

With a bit of a funny smile, Adora raised one hand and put her finger to her mouth, telling Shadow to keep quiet about this, and promised she’d explain it better to him later.

Their adorable brunette son just nodded, ears down and concerned for his mother.

With that taken care of, Adora turned back to her wife, kissing between her ears and nuzzling her head, “Ready?”

Those claws clutched tighter, but Catra nodded slowly, “Yea,” the bonfire seemed to die down immediately, and the feline woman moved to stand more comfortably on her own, “I’m ready to go to bed.”

Adora smiled, reaching out, easily finding Catra’s face thanks to her glowing eyes, rubbed her chin and pulled her in for a passionate kiss.

When they separated Catra was purring, leaning her forehead on Adora’s and had her tail wrapped around one of her legs. She took a deep breath, sighing comfortably.

Shaking her head, Adora gave her another quick peck, grabbing her hand, and started pulling her away, “C’mon,” seeing as Shadow was still there, thanks to their son’s glowing gold eyes, she grabbed his hand with her free one and started to pull the two magicats along, “You _both_ need to sleep, we have to get up early tomorrow…”

“Both?” Catra’s heterochromatic eyes move like she was raising a brow, glancing down and saw glowing yellow eyes, “Shadow? What are you doing up?!”

Adora could feel their son shiver in the night, though it was likely not from the cold.

She laughed, squeezing Catra’s hand to get her attention, “Well, _someone_ decided to blow up a building in the middle of the night, causing the whole castle to go on alert, and for _some reason_ our children were very concerned,” the next bit was more of a mumble, “And some of them have ridiculous reflexes and managed to latch on to me despite being She-Ra and running to find the problem…”

Both cats snickered at that, though Adora was more inclined to think Catra was more at fault for that.

Adora glared at her wife, knowing that while _she_ could barely see a foot in front of her, Catra and their children had impeccable night vision. The feline woman would know the look she was giving, even if she ignored it.

Her response came in the form of a quick kiss on the cheek, before Catra laid her head on Adora’s shoulder, nuzzling as she let her wife walk them back to their room, “Thank you, for being there…”

The walk to their room was relatively short, and Adora just nuzzled her wife back, “There’s nowhere I’d rather be.”

Outside the door to their room, Glimmer seemed to appear, sighing deeply and pinching the bridge of her nose, mumbling under her breath, “I swear they are more stubborn then-!!”

“Glimmer?” blonde brows quirked as Adora gave her longtime friend a wry smile. Catra and Shadow seemed to peek out around her, and she just knew her wife was giving an unhelpful look.

The way Glimmer went from surprised light smile to scowling flat look told her as much, “ _Your_ children are a nightmare,” she was looking _directly_ at Catra.

The feline queen did the most childish thing she could, making a rude gesture and sticking out her tongue.

Glimmer did not seem amused as she crossed her arms, looking on the other side of Adora and noticed the other magicat, “Oh, good, you got the other one.”

Shadow’s response was nowhere _near_ his mother’s abrasiveness, simply ducking behind his other mother a bit more and trying to see if Queen Glimmer wouldn’t notice him.

Another particular look from Glimmer, the kind she only got when dealing with Catra and _her_ kids, before sending a wry smile to Adora, “Everything handled?”

Adora gave a nervous chuckle, rolling her eyes and ignoring the look she knew Catra was giving her, “For the most part…”

That flat look from those sparkly eyes, “Good,” she turned, giving Catra a pointed look, “No more blowing up my castle, Horde Scum.”

Blue and yellow eyes rolled, but Catra couldn’t help the bit of a smirk and laugh in her voice, “No promises, Sparkles.”

For some reason, Glimmer just gave this vicious grin, shared with Catra, before nearly shouting, “I’m going to bed!” and teleporting away before anyone could so much as respond.

Adora just sighed, shaking her head, “I still don’t understand you two’s relationship.”

“That’s fine,” leaning over, Catra gave her wife a loving kiss, purring as she nuzzled and held her close, “It’s not as important as ours anyway…”

Seeing as his parents were being themselves, Shadow had slipped away from his mom, standing by the door waiting for them.

Catra chuckled at his impatience, Adora felt embarrassed, and they both let go of each other enough to walk to their own door, hand-in-hand. When they opened the door to their room, Adora was unsurprised to see four little forms curled up on their bed and taking up most of it.

Shadow immediately ran in and jumped on the bed with his siblings, curling up as well while they dogpiled him for details.

Adora just smiled, giving Catra an almost apologetic look.

But Catra didn’t see the point in it.

Grasping her wife’s hand, the Queen of Tiger’s Quarry reached over and kissed her, purring and nuzzling, happy to be brought by her to a bed full of their children.

This was the life she wanted, everything she ever loved and cared about all in one neat little place.

Her love, her children, and a whole life ahead of her.

Catra was happy, and that’s all she ever wanted.

**Author's Note:**

> so, yes, this takes place over about 10 plus years, its ambiguous, maybe 12ish or more after canon~ playing with my time doing Entrapta things (the year before they go out into space), my blatant porn (somewhere in that year IN space) and then the rush of Catra, being Catra, and doing dumb stuff like getting super princess powers all on a whim while pregnant and sorta learning magic to help control it before she has said baby...
> 
> only its Catra, i love her, and therefore she gets a whole litter of kittens and curses i ever existed to write this :D
> 
> Finn, if you somehow have been under a rock and haven't heard, is the semi-canon non-binary baby of these two made up by the creator of the show. I'll be honest, i wasn't a fan of the sole drawing at first, but started having fun when the fanart was coming out, and the idea of Adora and Catra having a kid, no matter what they were, that was basically just the combo of Adora's idiocy and Catra's lack of attention span mixed with their desire for ADVENTURE and sprinkle in some of their mutual ANGST, as seems to have become the determination of fanon, REALLY made me start to like them... so they kid number one...
> 
> Amara is my original idea of their baby, all blonde, even the ears and tail, King Arthuria style kitten named after Mara that is determined to be the next She-Ra, whether anyone wants her to be or not... so their stubbornness and cuteness mashed into a weapon and personified :D
> 
> Sable/Shadow... honestly kinda spawned from my idea of having Amara and letting Finn exist after their announcement and became semi-canon... if those two were around, there'd need to be a balance, and for some reason my brain is like 'hey, since they have the future She-Ra and a non-binary bicon that embodies Seahawk with ANGST, they need a quiet one' so to be their contemplativeness, rationality, and actual intelligence, that CLEARLY never gets headed, i came up with this child, who for some reason as i was thinking of them decided they wanted to be a magitech and a boy, when she was Sable her favorite person was uncle Bow and Entrapta (probably Hordak as well) and as they got older started wearing more boyish things until finally deciding he wanted to be a boy and Catra basically just pushes him on bow like 'teach him to be boy, kthxbi!' and well, kinda loved it~
> 
> Izzy and Cassia came from... well, i wanted some derpy spotty kittens that had no freakin' idea what they wanted to be, and while i was inclined to be 'nice' and only have Catra suffer a three litter, i've seen too many pics of Catradora with five kittens, and as i love Catra, i must pick the worst option... they can be the derpy background kids playing with the other kids and i'm okay with this...
> 
> And i hope no one got offended i labeled them as 'daughters' when born, i understand the complexities of figuring out gender identity, but it doesn't usually figure itself out till later in life. I'm also majorly into biology and you can yell 'magic' at me all day, but how my brain works is 'XX + XX = XX' there are no Y chromosomes and at best there'd be a testosterone mutations to cause hyper masculine females, Ie: the likes of sexy Huntara and Scorpia, they're still biologically female, just manly~ BUT! as this is a world FULL of magic, i feel that later down the line if Finn wanted to transition to full on intersex/futa/whatever physically and Shadow to male, that'd be possible, and i'd totally be for it, body modification is great in my opinion, i honestly wished it worked better in reality...
> 
> so, that's my caveats for the Catradora babies... not going to really go into the others as they're only really mentioned~
> 
> So why fire? because its fun~ also i always found it wired there was no fire princess... so having the gem broken covers a lot of history shenaniganry as well as lets me fullfil the fantasy teased in season 1 of Catra being a secret princess, while kinda NOT being one, and just forcing it as she's wont to do~
> 
> Also, she gets to use her magic to burn down her toxic mother's garden, so win-win! :D
> 
> Also Catra's terrible at naming things, its the Tiger's Eye... in a Quarry... Tiger's Quarry, yea? :D (Though it DOES work as a pun too!)
> 
> hope you guys enjoyed, sorry for the rant, i had to come up with a lot of backstory quickly to get this idea out of my head and there's just SO MUCH i want to talk about and not enough characters XD


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